One month down...crazy!



From Arran looking out on the Holy Isle

Spring is on its way!!!  The weather for the past 3 days has been beautiful and I have so enjoyed it.  After a week of classes and work duties, we got to go out and explore a bit more of the country-side the past few days.  Saturday there was a group of us that took a ferry across to the Isle of Arran and explored that a bit.  There is a chocolate factory, whiskey distillery, soap factory, an ancient castle, and a lot of hiking to be had.  I did visit a few of those places, but a few girls and I decided to take a bus to the south part of the Island to the Holy Isle.  It was beautiful!  Just a few small villages that we wandered through, took pictures, saw some huge swans, and then back to the main village to catch the ferry back.  All in all, it was a good and relaxing day. 



Me, Katie (staff), and Alora (one of my roommates)



Sunday was another beautiful day so we went on an adventure around West Kilbride.  There is a hill behind our castle, inland, called Tarbet Hill, so we had ourselves a little bit of a hike to the top and then around the village.  It was such a beautiful day!  I can start to see the beauty of Scotland emerging more and more as Spring rolls around!



Spring!!!  That's crazy to think that spring is almost here and that I have now been in Scotland for a little over a month!  How time is flying by!  It feels like I have only been here maybe a week or two, but looking back over the weeks, I can really see how much I have already done and how much I am learning.  This past week the teaching was on Spiritual Authority and all I can say is I feel like I took back some good ground that I have allowed Satan to have over the years.  I think one of the biggest things that I realized this past week was that many of us, me included, have bought into the lie that Satan is equal to God, when in reality, there's no comparison.  Even back when Satan was thrown out of heaven, the Bible says that it was the Angel Michael who battled him and through him out, not God...for if it had been, the battle would have been over before it started.  Our teacher used this anology...if you think of God as an elephant (one of the largest animals on Earth) then Satan is like an ant that the elephant smushes with the very tip of his trunk!  There is simply no comparison when it comes to the power of God and Satan.  God wins, everytime!  Brings new light to the saying "If God is for us, who can stand against us?"

 

Another fun thing that I got to do this week is take a driving test!  And I passed...yay!!  Because I am 25 or older I get to drive the base's vehicles, so I just had to take a little driving test and I am free!  Let me tell you, it wasn't as weird driving on the right side of the car and the wrong side (left) of the road as I thought it'd be.  Probably the weirdest thing about it is learning to shift gears with your left hand.  I have smacked my right hand into the side of the door a few times as I went to shift just out of habit.  But still, I am so blessed by getting the chance to drive here.  I am free to just go for a drive and explore the country-side more. 

Oh, and one last thing I have been meaning to write about for the past few weeks that I just keep spacing on...I know where I am going for the outreach portion of DTS.  The whole school actually is going to stay in Scotland!  We will be breaking into smaller teams and going to different parts of the country, but we will all be here, so that's kind of fun.  I am not sure as of yet to exactly where I'll be going in Scotland, but I'll keep you all updated when I find out.  There is also a really good chance though that we will all go to Turkey for a week or two at the end of our outreach phase...I am really keeping my fingers crossed for that one.  I think it'd be great to go see more cultures as well.  Crazy to think that part of the school is only 2 months away. 

Alright, well my friends...its my one night off for this week, so I better go enjoy it!  Hope you all are doing well! 





Portencross Castle, just down the beach from Seamill



Rachael, me, and Angela